Will it go viral? The truth behind your promotional video

Sure you have! It’s usually used in conjunction with a slick video on YouTube or a highly shared post on Facebook. But it’s not a word that should be thrown around so aggressively in the world of business. If you really dissect the content that reaches that pivotal viral status, it very rarely contains information that would lead a would-be customer to open their checkbook or click the Pay Now button. Nine times out of ten the video or post is purely entertaining and lacks any and all sales verbiage.

As a marketing consultant, I am asked by clients if I think they should create a video to promote their services or products online. My answer is always, “YES!” Videos can be produced, edited and uploaded to Facebook, YouTube or your website for next to nothing. They act as an integrated media source to reveal, demonstrate and promote segments of your business that many may not be aware of. Video is an awesome marketing tool, and should be used by every business to enhance their popularity within their targeted demographic.

But many businesses still choose to ignore it as a viable and profitable form of digital media.

Why?

Because their expectations are too high. They concentrate on that million dollar buzz word…

“VIRAL!”

When their newly launched promo video fails to garner massive attention from the universe, they scrub it, never making another video again. Maybe you have fell victim to the viral let down, and have avoided mixing up your marketing resources in order to save time and disappointment. But let’s think about how your marketing efforts work for a second.

You spend money to make money…right?! But shooting a video with your iPhone and uploading it to YouTube costs nothing. And if one person sees it, and that one person contacts your business and eventually becomes a long-term customer with a lifetime value of $10-12K, wouldn’t you say that the video was worth your tiny investment of time?

Duh! Seems like a no-brainer to me.

But let’s move this conversation back to the virality <——(it’s a real word). Now that we agree making videos to market your business is a good idea, how do we ensure that our videos will be watched?

The truth is…I don’t know. There’s no set law or strategy that you can apply to guarantee that your video will be seen by the masses. If there was, I’d be using it. But there is a cheat code!

Have fun. Sell without selling. Allow your viewers to simply enjoy what they are seeing.

I’ll leave you with this example that will hopefully get your “motor running.” Pun intended!

Check out this video from Blendtec™. Some of you may remember this video series, but for the low initial production price of $50, Blendtec™ was able to boost sales by almost 600% in less than a year. Take notice of the fun factor! Not only does this video series promote the power and durability of a Blendtec™ blender, it’s insanely fun to watch and dream of new things blend and destroy.